Anthony Dirrell (born October 14, 1984) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

. He was a two-time WBC

super middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

champion, having held the title in 2019 and previously from 2014 to 2015. He is the younger brother of

2004 Olympic The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

bronze medalist

Andre Dirrell Andre Dirrell (born September 7, 1983) is an American professional boxer. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 2004 Olympics. His younger brother Anthony Dirrell is also a professional boxer. Amateur career ...

, who is also a professional boxer.

Professional career

Anthony Dirrell made his pro debut on January 27, 2005 against Henry Dukes. Dirrell stopped him in the first round. Dirrell had his next fight on February 11, 2005 against Dewayne Warren. Dirrell knocked Warren down twice in round one and twice again in round two. Dirrell won by

TKO A technical knockout (TKO) is a professional fighting term. TKO may also refer to: Sports * TKO, the name of a professional wrestling move referring to either the cutter or stunner variant * TKO Group Holdings, a combat sports company Music Ar ...

. Dirrell had his third fight against Larry Brothers in which Dirrell won by TKO in the second round. Dirrell had his fourth fight against Mike Walthier knocking him out in the first round. Dirrell had his fifth fight against Gabriel Rivera on August 13, 2005. Though Rivera was unbeaten in four fights, Dirrell won by TKO in the second. Dirrell had his sixth fight against Kevin Butts in which Dirrell knocked him out in the first round. Dirrell had his seventh fight against Chris Grays in which Dirrell won by TKO in the first round. Dirrell had his eighth fight against Juan Carlos Ramos in which Dirrell won by TKO in the first round. Dirrell had his ninth fight against James Morrow on June 23, 2006 in which Dirrell won by TKO in the first round. Dirrell won this fight in impressive fashion as he first knocked down Morrow with a huge right hand to the head, then followed up with a flurry in which Dirrell hit Morrow with a perfect left hook to the body which blew Morrow's mouthpiece out. Dirrell's tenth fight was against Billy Thompson in which he won by unanimous decision in 6 rounds. On April 24, 2015 Anthony Dirrell debuted with Premier Boxing Champions vs. Badou Jack at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, IL.

Dirrell vs. Bika

Following a 23 fight win streak, Dirrell earned the opportunity to become the

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight (in a mandatory defence) or be forced to vacate their title as champion. The opposite of a mandatory defence is a ''volunt ...

for the WBC Super Middleweight title. He recorded his 24th consecutive victory with a win over Renan St-Juste, when his opponent could not continue due to a shoulder injury. After another pair of wins, on December 12, 2013, Dirrell faced champion

Sakio Bika Sakio Bika (born 18 April 1979) is a Cameroonian-born Australian professional boxer. He held the WBC super-middleweight title from 2013 to 2014, and previously the IBO super-middleweight title from 2008 to 2010. In 2015 he challenged once for ...

at the

Barclays Center Barclays Center ( ) is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liber ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

for the title. After 12 rounds, the judges ruled the fight a draw. On August 16, 2014, at the

StubHub Center Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills, in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dign ...

Carson, California Carson is a city in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and the Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor regions of Los Angeles County, California, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International ...

, Dirrell faced Bika in a championship rematch. After another 12 rounds, the judges awarded the fight and the title to Dirrell by unanimous decision.

Dirrell vs. Jack

Dirrell's next fight was on April 24, 2015 against

Badou Jack Badou Jack (born 31 October 1983) is a Swedish professional boxer. He has held world titles in three weight classes, including the WBC super-middleweight title from 2015 to 2017, the WBA (Regular) light-heavyweight title in 2017, and the WBC ...

at the

UIC Pavilion Credit Union 1 Arena (previously known as UIC Pavilion) is a multi-purpose arena located at 525 S. Racine Avenue on the Near West Side in Chicago, Illinois. It opened in 1982. Description and history Credit Union 1 Arena is located on the campu ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Challenger Jack handed Dirrell his first full-fledged loss with a majority decision that saw the 31-year-old Swede control the fight through the middle rounds, relying on a strong jab and a confident aggression to outpoint Dirrell and win a majority decision victory.

WBC contention, injury

After Badou Jack vacated the WBC super middleweight title, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman ordered Dirrell to face

Callum Smith Callum John Smith (born 23 April 1990) is a British professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) interim light-heavyweight title since February 2025. Previously, he held the World Boxing Association (WBA) (Super versi ...

for the vacant belt. Following Smith's entry into the

World Boxing Super Series The World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) is a professional boxing tournament organised by Comosa AG. Each weight class features eight boxers competing in an annual knockout competition with the champion from each weight class taking the Muhammad Al ...

, it was announced the fight for the vacant title would be between Dirrell and

David Benavidez Anthony David Benavidez (born December 17, 1996) is an American professional boxer who has held world championships in two weight classes. He has held the World Boxing Association (WBA) light heavyweight title (WBA (Regular), Regular version) si ...

. On August 5, the WBC announced that Dirrell would be unable to compete due to injury and the bout for the vacant world title would be between Benavidez and

Ronald Gavril Ronald Gavril (born July 10, 1986) is a Romanian professional boxer. He is signed to Mayweather Promotions and is currently trained by Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. Early life and education Ronald Gavril was born on 10 July 1986 in Bacău, Romania. ...

Dirrell vs. Yıldırım

On February 23, 2019, Dirrell fought WBC's #2

Avni Yıldırım Avni Yıldırım (born 5 August 1991) is a Turkish professional boxer. He challenged for the WBC super-middleweight title in 2019, and the WBA (Super), WBC, and ''Ring'' magazine super-middleweight titles in 2021. Professional career Yıldırı ...

for the vacant WBC super middleweight title. Dirrell fought well but had a hard time dealing with Yıldırım at times. The fight was scheduled for twelve rounds, but the ringside physician made the recommendation to stop the fight, since Dirrell was dealing with a cut over his left eye, caused by an accidental head clash in the seventh round. Dirrell was leading on two of the scorecards at the time of stoppage, 96-94 and 96-94, while the third judge had it 98-92 for Yıldırım, which was enough for a technical split decision win for Dirrell.

Dirrell vs. Benavidez

In his first title defence, Dirrell faced

. Benavidez, a former holder of the same belt, was undefeated and had never lost the belt in the ring. In a very competitive fight, Dirrell was fighting well in the opening four rounds. However, things started to go south for Dirrell in the fifth round, when he sustained a bad cut from a Benavidez jab. In the ninth round, after Benavidez unloaded a barrage of shots at Dirrell, Dirrell's corner decided to stop the fight.

Dirrell vs. Davis

In his next fight, Dirrell fought Kyrone Davis in an eliminator for the WBC super middleweight championship. The fight ended in a split-decision draw, both fighters winning on one scorecard apiece, 115-113, while the third judge had the fight a draw, 114-114.

Outside the ring

It was announced by

HBO Boxing After Dark ''Boxing After Dark'' is an HBO boxing program, premiered on February 3, 1996, that usually showed fights between well-known contenders, but usually not "championship" or "title" fights. Unlike its sister program, ''HBO World Championship Boxing ...

announcer

Larry Merchant Larry Merchant (born Larry Kaufman; February 11, 1931) is an American sportswriter, a longtime commentator for HBO sports presentations of ''HBO World Championship Boxing'', '' Boxing After Dark'' and HBO pay-per-view telecasts, called "the gre ...

on the June 16, 2007 telecast that Dirrell was currently undergoing

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

for non-Hodgkin's

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

. He was cleared to box again after completing chemotherapy in 2008. On January 28, 2008, Dirrell was held overnight in the Flint city lockup on suspicion of armed robbery. However, no charges were ever filed. Dirrell's grandfather claims that Dirrell was on his way to undergo chemotherapy for

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tire ...

when the robbery took place.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

Anthony Dirrell profile
at ''

Premier Boxing Champions ''Premier Boxing Champions'' (PBC) is an ongoing series of televised boxing events connected to manager Al Haymon. PBC was initially promoted as an effort to return boxing to mainstream broadcast and cable television, as opposed to premium cha ...

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Anthony Dirrell - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
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Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dirrell, Anthony 1984 births Living people Boxers from Michigan Sportspeople from Flint, Michigan American male boxers World Boxing Council champions World super-middleweight boxing champions